The Effects of Literary Interpretation by a Teacher on EFL Students

Literary Interpretation is of prime importance in the field of literature studies. By contrast, literary interpretation is almost ignored in the field of English language education in Japan. This paper aims to fill the gap between the two fields. The research questions are as follows: RQ 1: What effects can literary interpretation by a teacher have on learners’ attitudes towards reading? RQ 2: What effects can literary interpretation by a teacher have on learners’ reading activities? To answer these questions, we conducted a survey in which 29 university students participated. We asked them to answer an identical questionnaire before and after they were provided with their teacher’s literary interpretation of “A Family Supper,” a short story by Kazuo Ishiguro. The questionnaire was made up of two parts: the first part, consisting of 10 items with a 6-point scale, tried to measure learners’ attitudes towards reading; in the second part, learners were asked to write freely about how they felt towards “A Family Supper.” The first and second parts were meant to be quantitative and qualitative research respectively. In the quantitative research, learners’ attitudes towards reading improved in 8 out of 10 items after their teacher interpreted the text. We conducted a paired t-test and found that in 7 out of those 8 items the improvement was statistically significant. In one of the 2 items in which their attitudes changed in a negative way, the change was statistically significant. The item asked the learners “whether they felt like reading forward or not.” So, the change might have been natural and could be explained like this: they had already grasped the storyline before they were given literary interpretation; in other words, by the time they answered the questionnaire for the second time, they had already lost interest in the plot. Our answer to RQ 1 is that literary interpretation contributes to enhancing learners’ attitudes towards reading. In the qualitative research, we first analyzed the comments the learners had written before they were given literary interpretation. Common to the comments were the following four points: (1) English used in “A Family Supper” is simple and easy to read; (2) Due to its linguistic simplicity, the text is not worth reading; (3) The story is not dramatic enough; (4) The text contains something mysterious but inexplicable. The effects of literary interpretation on these comments are as follows: (1) Comments on the content of the work took the place of those on linguistic simplicity; (2) Some learners noticed that, even if vocabulary and grammar were simple, English could be difficult to read; (3) Most of the learners came to recognize a deeper meaning hidden under the undramatic-looking story; (4) Intuitive insights into the mystery were acknowledged as reasonable. These four findings are our answer to RQ 2

FRET-based assay of the processing reaction kinetics of stimulus-responsive peptides : influence of amino acid sequence on reaction kinetics

In the field of chemical biology, methods for controlling peptidyl function by a stimulus are attracting increasing attention. Recently, we reported a stimulus-responsive peptide which can be cleaved after exposure to a stimulus. In this study, we developed a FRET-based assay system to estimate the kinetics of the stimulus-induced processing (peptide bond cleavage) reaction. Based on the FRET system, it was clarified that introduction of a sterically less-hindered or polar residue at the position adjacent to the stimulus-responsive amino acid accelerates the processing reaction

Genome structure of the Lactobacillus temperate phage Φg1e: the whole genome sequence and the putative promoter/repressor system

The complete genome sequence of a Lactobacillus temperate phage Φg1e was established. The double-stranded DNA is composed of 42 259 bp, and encodes for sixty-two possible open reading frames (ORF) as well as several potential regulatory sequences. Based on comparative analysis with other related proteins of the Lactobacillus and Lactococcus phages as well as the Escherichia coli phages (such as lambda), functions were putatively assigned to several Φg1e ORFs: cng and cpg (encoding for repressors), hel (helicase), ntp (NTPase), and several ORFs (e.g., minor capsid proteins). An about 1000-bp DNA region of Φg1e containing cpg and cng was inferred to function as a promoter/repressor system for the Φg1e lysogenic and lytic pathway

Gemcitabine sensitivity-related mRNA expression in endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy of unresectable pancreatic cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to determine a predictive indicator of gemcitabine (GEM) efficacy in unresectable pancreatic cancer using tissue obtained by endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>mRNAs extracted from 35 pancreatic tubular adenocarcinoma tissues obtained by EUS-FNA before GEM-treatment were studied. mRNAs were amplified and applied to a Focused DNA Array, which was restricted to well-known genes, including GEM sensitivity-related genes, deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1), hENT2, dCMP deaminase, cytidine deaminase, 5'-nucleotidase, ribonucleotide reductase 1 (RRM1) and RRM2. mRNA levels were classified into high and low expression based on a cut-off value defined as the average expression of 35 samples. These 35 patients were divided into the following two groups. Patients with partial response and those with stable disease whose tumor markers decreased by 50% or more were classified as the effective group. The rest of patients were classified as the non-effective group. The relationship between GEM efficacy and mRNA expression was then examined by chi-squared test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among these GEM sensitivity-related genes, dCK alone showed a significant correlation with GEM efficacy. Eight of 12 patients in the effective group had high dCK expression, whereas 16 of 23 patients in non-effective group had low dCK expressions (<it>P </it>= 0.0398).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>dCK mRNA expression is a candidate indicator for GEM efficacy in unresectable pancreatic cancer. Quantitative mRNA measurements of dCK using EUS-FNA samples are necessary for definitive conclusions.</p

Development of thiol-responsive amide bond cleavage device and its application for peptide nucleic acid-based DNA releasing system

To develop a thiol-responsive DNA releasing system, a thiol-responsive amino acid capable of inducing an amide bond cleavage in the presence of a thiol was developed. It was successfully combined with peptide nucleic acid (PNA), and thiol-induced release of DNA from the thiol-responsive PNA/DNA complex was observed

Frustrated quantum-spin system on a triangle coupled with ege_g lattice vibrations - Correspondence to Longuet-Higgins et al.'s Jahn-Teller model -

We investigate the quantum three spin model $({\bf S_1},{\bf S_2},{\bf S_3})$ of spin$=1/2$ on a triangle, in which spins are coupled with lattice-vibrational modes through the exchange interaction depending on distances between spin sites. The present model corresponds to the dynamic Jahn-Teller system $E_g\otimes e_g$ proposed by Longuet-Higgins {\it et al.}, Proc.R.Soc.A.{\bf 244},1(1958). This correspondence is revealed by using the transformation to Nakamura-Bishop's bases proposed in Phys.Rev.Lett.{\bf 54},861(1985). Furthermore, we elucidate the relationship between the behavior of a chiral order parameter ${\hat \chi}={\bf S_1\cdot(S_2\times S_3)}$ and that of the electronic orbital angular momentum ${\hat \ell_z}$ in $E_g\otimes e_g$ vibronic model: The regular oscillatory behavior of the expectation value $$for vibronic structures with increasing energy can also be found in that of$$. The increase of the additional anharmonicity(chaoticity) is found to yield a rapidly decaying irregular oscillation of $$

Diagnostic Accuracy of Positron Emission Mammography with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in Breast Cancer Tumor of Less than 20 mm in Size

Objective(s): To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of positron emission mammography (PEM) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for small breast tumors of less than 20 mm in size.Methods: The study was conducted on a total of 100 subjects (i.e., 50 patients with pathologically proven breast cancer and 50 normal cases of medical screening). The total number of tumors was 54 (mean size: 11±5.1 mm, range:4-20 mm). The diagnostic accuracy of PEM alone, PET/CT alone, and combined PET/CT and PEM was evaluated by two nuclear medicine physicians based on visual inspection. The two groups (i.e., tumors of ≤ 10 mm and > 10-20 mm) werecompared in terms of the diagnostic capability of the three modalities (PEM alone, PET/CT alone, and PET/CT+PEM).Results: The sensitivities of PEM alone, PET/CT alone, and combined PET/CT and PEM were 72%, 60%, and 76%, respectively. The specificities of these tests were 98%, 100%, and 98%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracies of these diagnostic modalities were 85%, 79%, and 87%, respectively. The combined PET/CT and PEM showed significantly higher sensitivity and accuracy than PET/CT alone (P=0.005 and P=0.02, respectively). In addition, PEM demonstrated asignificantly higher sensitivity than PET/CT in the ≤ 10 mm group (P=0.03); however, no difference was observed between the two modalities in the > 10 mm group in terms of sensitivity.Conclusion: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET had limited capability for the detection of small breast cancers of < 10 mm. Combined PET/CT and PEM showed higher sensitivity and accuracy, compared to PET/CT alone